Up Close and Personal (with JTT)
Here is a quick run down of the JohnTaylorTerroristen Tour by Nancy.
solonaBEACH, CA
July 29, 1998
Getting to the venue early we secured ourselves a seat. We had ample time to check out the décor of the venue, which was quite unique. An aquatic theme with a big fake stuffed shark above the bar, different I guess. Now, the draw back of getting to a venue early is that you are seated around people that also get there early and start drinking, heavy drinking. We were situated between the stage (cool) and the falling down drunk section behind us (not so cool.)
The opening act, the Divers, were actually pretty good but I could have done without the shirts the five fans they had were wearing, yep, had to have the word "Muff" on them somewhere, classy.
By the time Terroristen made it on stage, the place was fairly full. Except for some technical problems during SLIH, the show went very smoothly. One humorous thing that sticks out in my mind was that after a fan commented on his newly dyed blond bangs, John quipped "this has always been my hair color, if you've seen it any other way in the last fifteen years, it's been a wig." The highlight was definitely the addition of "Only One (Back to Hollywood)", a new ballad John wrote after visiting his sick mother in Birmingham. We also got introduced to new staples of the show including Michael's Bee Gee-ish vocals during "Sin Of the City" (he will forever be Bee Gee Spice to us), John's introduction for "Feelings Are Good"; "A self-help song for punk rockers" and Michael's rap during "Planet Earth/Good Times" (dude, you're white, give it up.)
yucaipa, CA
July 30, 1998
Oh my god, John played a biker bar!!! Horror!!! I was slightly prepared for this as I had visited the venue's website to get directions. I was a bit nervous after seeing the photo of the owners sitting on their Harley but thought I'd give the show a go anyway. What we found upon arrival was worse than I ever imagined, mud, motorcycles everywhere, having to be searched by a wand metal detector (some of you might remember my feelings on this particular invention from other reviews, pure evil), and oh my, a bar and pool room full of biker mamas and papas. Now, I definitely want to point out that I have no ill will towards anyone and their ways of life but the old skool Duranie in me was traumatized. I mean really, growing up with Duran posters plastered on my walls and Rio playing 24/7, I certainly never imagined seeing one of my idols play a biker bar. Let me back up a bit, I firmly came to terms with the fact Duran will never be as big as they once were, they'll never have as many fans, etc. years ago (around '88 actually), but a small part of me still gets slapped in the face with reality sometimes when I see them in situations that seem so completely foreign to all that once was. Anyway, this ranked up there with my other top Duranie reality slaps of all time such as watching John follow a bunch of drunk teenagers doing the hustle in Stuttgart and Duran follow a dog act on Viva Variety. Sorry I just went off on a major rant but I do believe (at least hope) that some of you will be able to relate.
The actually venue part was quite nice, it was semi-out-doors and it was a beautiful night. John didn't seem nearly as fazed by the venue as I, first thing he said was "We're here to rock this town baby, here to tear this shit up." All I could think was, "we'll this isn't actually a town, but there is a big farm next door you could do some damage to." While introducing "Better Way", he commented "Steve Jones and I met in a 12-step program so it's nice to see O'Doul's (non-alcoholic beer) presenting John Taylor. Although I can't even drink O'Doul's anymore without seeing little white rabbits." There were technical problems with John's amp following the song that lead into an impromptu bad joke session that was thankfully short lived (they were really bad jokes, fans were groaning.) At one point John asked "how are we doing in the Barbecued Rib section", making mention of the covered part of the venue that had tables and where food was being served (again, not something I was expecting to see.) And I can't finish my review of the show without mentioning the little spat John and Gerry had, it didn't seem like that big of a deal during "Can You Deal With It" but afterwards John asked him "Are you mad at me, yeah he's mad at me." Oh, one last alcohol mention, I didn't see what interaction the fan up front had with John but only heard his comment, "Tequila, yeah, I dated her for a while, we went steady." We had a good chuckle over that one.
sanjuanCAPISTRANO, CA
July 31, 1998
It was Terroristen's first return engagement as they commented upon coming out on stage. Having seen them before at the Coach House, I was really looking forward to the show. It's a great venue and this time we knew to make dinner reservations to get priority seating (come to find out that the easiest way to the front was by simply slipping the employees a 10 spot, something we hadn't even thought ofŠ)
By the time they opened the doors we were already quite tired, having gotten to the venue hours earlier for Chai's interview with Gerry. We did have a great time hanging out with friends though, a lot of you SoCal fans are just crazy! 3 We had a long time to chat too, there were two opening bands that night. The first we skipped entirely but the second we suffered through. The lead singer was so angry at the concert goers for not standing and dancing that he started throwing insults at the crowd. Not a great way to promote your band. It got even uglier when the audience started laughing at the band and everyone else at our table was busy making signs commenting on how much the band sucked and holding them up for everyone to read.
By the time Terroristen made it on stage our table-mates had left. Still scratching our heads to why you would pay to see a concert, stay for the opening bands that you obviously didn't like and then leave when the main act is about to come on stage, we readily jumped up and secured ourselves much better seats. Better view for picture taking is always a beautiful thing. The concert was very good but I don't remember anything that exciting to mention here. The only amusing incident of fan interaction I recall was when a person in front of us held up a sign saying it was her birthday, John had to ask "21 again?"
seattle, WA
August 6, 1998
I never had been to Seattle before and always wanted to go. I was pleasantly surprised by the city, it's beautiful! Must spend more time there! This show was extra special for me because I met up with a dear friend I hadn't seen in two years. We had lovely time but oh, the opening actsŠ
Can we just say torture, this was beyond torture actually. The first I mercifully don't recall much of, must be a mental block. All I do remember was that their big number was about "dogshit" (I think that was the name of the song) and that the singer was dressed up like a reject from a Trekkie Convention. The second act was Buckethead. Squealing guitars, wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't for the pseudo-performance art thing. Buckethead consisted of one person tormenting his poor guitar and a KFC bucket, on his head. Oh yes, very clever! He also had a lot of props, dolls without heads, etc. Way sad. All I kept thinking was "who does he fancy himself, the phantom of the KFC."
The place was absolutely packed, sold out. The crowd was brilliant. The venue was great, all the people in line kept taking about how it use to be a kiddie restaurant with a little train that brought you your meal. It was kind of funny hearing everyone relive their childhood and get really excited about seeing Terroristen perform in the same place as those great memories. The bad thing about the show was that we were on the late side (forgot my film and needed to find a store still open.) We grabbed the last two seats on the balcony, unfortunately it happened to be directly below an air conditioning vent. We were literally shaking the entire night. The main thing I remember about this gig was the crowd, you couldn't ask for a more energetic one! It was cute to watch the TTPers in the front row, they were singing along with every word and were obviously in heaven. John totally got off on this as well and played to them most of the night.
sanFRANCISCO, CA
August 8, 1998
This was the best show of the tour! I'm very glad we ended up choosing this one to be the only one we went for front row on (ok, we're old, can't do the front row of a GA show every night.) The fans were very cool except for one directly behind me that felt the need to howl (like a big dog) periodically throughout the show. This concert was also longer than usual because they added "Anon." John interacted with fans more at this show than any other as well. A few of the funnier moments were when after the light show/John dancing solo during the ending of "Drowning Man", fans were going wild. John quipped that "we're not gonna get that serious musical acceptance unless you stop screaming", needless to say people screamed even louder. He also had to add "I do love Americans, I really do, I like them better than English people really", after a suitable amount of yelling by the fans he followed with "I believe that flattery will get you anywhere." The only other incident that stands out in my mind is at one point, during the lull between songs, a fan screamed out a song title, correctly guessing what was coming up next. John announced that they had guessed correctly and that they could come up on stage, twice. Both times, right before they made it one stage he changed his mind. "Sic, that was really terrible of me, wasn't it?" The poor distraught fan never did make it up there.
lasVEGAS, NV
August 13, 1998
If you've never been in the Luxor, I'd highly recommend the hotel, it's quite nice. What I wouldn't recommend however is the Ra, their nightclub and where Terroristen played. Can anyone say Meat Market? NV women got in free, out of state women paid half price and men paid the full cover charge. Catching my drift? It was bad. At least 50% of the audience were just locals wanting to hang out at the nightclub (still good for John however, money is money.) There was a large number of older men with much younger women (with very little on) that led me to believe that either these men had a lot of money or large amounts of money were exchanging hands whilst practicing the worlds oldest profession, my hunch is the latter.
We had a lot of time to people watch, doors opened at 8pm and Terroristen didn't come on stage until at least 11pm. The music was pumping, disco ball was a twirling and the Rah's bikini clad go-go dancers were doing their thing in their cages.
When they finally came on stage (no opening band thankfully), John was really snippy. It seems that they had been promised to be able to go on at around 10pm but were held back an hour by the club. John ranted. He also commented on the nightclub itself "I haven't seen a place like this since they were playing Earth, Wind and Fire. And it sounded better then." He wasn't a very happy boy! The rest of the band seemed much more laid back however and several songs into it, John seemed to relax and start enjoying himself. All was good.
losANGELES, CA
August 14, 1998
Have to start by saying that this was the most miserable show of the tour, no, the band was great, it was the venue. The Hollywood Athletic Club obviously couldn't afford to pay the air condition bill or something because it was HOT. The actual venue was nearly unbearable, even John mentioned it, "hot enough for you." Instead of suffering through all three opening acts, we skipped the first two by hanging out in the lobby and bar area and were only able to stay a few minutes during Three Alarm Fire. When it was finally time for Terroristen, we were surprised to see how close to the stage we could actually get, not many people were crowded up front due to the heat. It's always nice to see them in L.A. because they definitely give it their all, this time was no exception, the band was brilliant.
scottsdale, AZ
August 15, 1998
Can't believe I was late to this show! It was my second time in the Phoenix area, my first being to see Neurotic Outsiders in '96 and I missed most of that show due to my plane being late and hotel trouble. Not a good track record in this townŠ This time it was Mother Nature's fault. An hour before the show they got a rare thunderstorm (and we are talking horrible storm!). * of the drive to the venue, I couldn't see. Power was out and with the rain, I couldn't read street signs. It took me an hour and a 1/2 instead of the 20 minutes it should have, grrrŠ I arrived to hear "Hey Day" coming from the Cajon House (that's several songs into the set), of course there was no opening band. I ran in and was surprised again to find myself easily making my way to third row. Everyone was hanging back, this time I have a feeling it had something to do with the stench of alcohol that was coming from the majority of the patrons. Let's just say that most of the people were on the tipsy side. One girl next to me fell down at one point, right on her face. The crowd wasn't the only ones who were a bit clumsy though. John at one point knocked his mike out by hitting himself in the head with it, it was a pretty funny sight actually. Same 'ol John! The only thing else of note that I remember from that night was that Gerry had to say a "hello" to his cousins from the stage. I thought that was pretty cool considering he had told us earlier during the tour that he was looking forward to the Scottsdale show because he was planning on meeting some cousins he had there and had never met. I guess he did indeed have that chance and they came to the show.
All in all, it was a brilliant tour and they are becoming more of a proper group with each show. If you have the chance to see them on their MidWest/East Coast tour, don't miss it!
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